Is it time for a revolution?

We're in a crazy period. Home values have been rising and "flipping" is starting up again in places like Miami and Las Vegas, today the stock market is going through the roof, setting a new record. The jobs report tells us that jobs are being created at a very slow pace and that new unemployment claims are down.

At the same time, the new jobs don't pay as well as the jobs they are replacing and the income gap is wider than ever.

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There are times when it's necessary to fight against things that have become so wrong that they should no longer be. Things that were once small that have become big, but are no less wrong, must be made small again; a revolution, or a complete circle, is needed. Whether you want freedom from another country , or you want to overthrow an oppressive government, every fight is the same. A revolution (from the Latin revolutio, "a turnaround") is a significant change that usually occurs in a short period of time. Revolutions have happened throughout human history and vary widely in terms of methods, duration, motivating ideology, and the number of participating revolutionaries. Their results include major changes in culture, economy, and socio-political institutions.

On Dec. 2, 1964, during the Free Speech Movement at University of California at Berkeley, Mario Savio, a young physics student (grad student, I believe) stood on the steps of Sproul Hall and made what is probably one of the best and most succinct improptu speeches of the 20th century. A call to action, if not arms:

There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part! You can't even passively take part! And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels…upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop! And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!

There should be one. We are no longer a nation of free people, but a nation of slaves to corporate America. Our government hardly serves us, but instead overwhelmingly serves corporate America. My wife cringes every time I say that, but it's true (she works for a very large health insurance company). I often hear from her and friends of mine that are "corporate supporters" that the primary function of business is to make money. However, every time I respond with the question: "Yes, but when is profit ever justified over people?" They all get flustered and upset, and never really answer.

I believe that the U.S is far from what it once was. It no longer supports the rights and needs of a middle class. The government - whether under a democratic regime or republican one - is only loyal to the corporate elite and Wall Street. The FED needs to be audited and exposed, and the cozy relationship that corporations share with government needs to be ended. We are not a capitalist system; we are not a free market system. We are a corporatist system, which is nothing more than feudalism.

I know these are strong words, but I am disillusioned with the myth of America. I was a US Marine. I joined post 9-11, and even prior to the attack was considering it heavily as a career option. During my time there it was discouraging to see that what is marketed as a patriotic form of service is really just a bureaucratic institution of military power for corporate interests. The men and women there, once out of boot camp, really don't fight for their country anymore when they are shipped overseas to foreign lands "protecting our freedom"; they are not fighting for freedom. They are being forced to fight in the name of corporate interests and in turn the only real thing they are fighting for is each other - to make sure they and their brother or sister in arms doesn't come home in a box.

Our servicemen deserve better and our citizens deserve better. However, considering year after year, election after election, I am seeing more of the same (citizens claiming to be upset and unhappy with congress, yet electing the same schmucks they claim to be upset with year after year) I doubt much will change. At least, this is my political opinion.

I agree that we (the US) has become a corporatocracy. All for big business and big business for money. Damn the people. I do think that some sort of revolution has become necessary.

Unfortunately, trying to elect new people doesn't work. No matter how idealistic the new guy in office is, he or she is rapidly corrupted by the money and power thrown at him or her, and forgets or ignores the reason for their election. We have the absolute best Congress that money can buy.

The Republicans are not interested in doing anything that the president might get credit for. The recession has lasted far longer than it had to because during the president's first term the Republicans would do nothing to help the economy. They were setting President Obama up for a loss in 2012.

Jefferson said we should have a revolution every twenty years. The electoral process was supposed to eliminate the need for revolution, in that leadership changes frequently, but the truth is, the election process has become so corrupt, we really don't have that much of a change from administration to administration.

The truth is, we, as a people, are so splintered, we don't have the power to pull one off.

You can be supreme dictator, since the republic is obviously in a "state of emergency," and while you're King of America, fix the electoral process. If this sounds like the plot of a Star Wars movie or a republican scheme coming to a Michigan municipality near you, ermm, oh, look over there! It's Richard Dawkins doing the sign of the cross!

There's already been a revolution, beginning in 1980, and the filthy rich won, hands down. There's not much chance for a revolution of the proletariat, though, since virtually all the wheels of power are securely in the hands of the wealth plutocrats. Not only that, but they are buttressed by two fanatical, lower class constituencies within their sphere of influence; they are known as the Confederate States of America and the Jesus freaks.

What's so sadly pathetic, Dale, is that it is the goal of the "filthy rich" to dig every dime they can out of the poor man and the middle class, and these imbeciles, "the Confederate States of America and the Jesus freaks," the very ones they are stealing from, are the ones who are electing those bought and paid for by the filthy rich - all that's required, are a few buzzwords, "no gun control," "no abortion," "no fags," "Whites Rule!" and a few others, followed by a few, "Y'alls," and those idiots will vote for whoever they're told.